Slightly OT: Do you hate this site's SEARCH feature?

I LOATHE this site's search feature - it's destroying the use of what is otherwise a fantastic place to visit / read / learn.

The whole 1 min between searches is terrible and something I personally think the Admins should remove.

However, what compounds this obstructionist feature is that whatever I search for - I get 'No Matches Found'

EVEN IF I SEARCH FOR THE WORD 'iPhone' !!!!!!!!!

WTF?!?!?!

I've tried contacting a moderator (this site not having a PM function either is astounding in this day / age ) and his thoughts were that I should make a post about this and see if other people agree or disagree... and if more people AGREE that the search feature is FCUKED and needs to be re-thought, then that might just make the admin's do it.

So, what do you all think?

Please, think about this carefully and ask yourself - if you're here looking for an answer because you're stuck.. does waiting 45 seconds between searches because of a typo or change of words is needed really help you?

I don't think this site has enough traffic such that allowing free searching would bring the site to it's knees... bigger more visited sites don't have these crippling restrictions / limitations...

Elphaba Wrote:lol, I've been thru all my 'options' to see if I've 'de-selected the PM' option myself - and I can't find anything there. FAQ's said I should see a 'SEND PM' button on your posts - nope nothing there.

And I JUST tried a search for the word 'SEARCH' and it came up with 'no matches found'

This system / site is SO broken.

Please fix!!!!

I think PMs are off due to spam and for search just use google with site:idevgames.com.

Ya, this is *really* off topic....I'm moving the thread to the Assembly Room board.

Yes, the search feature is broken. If I recall correctly, the search's index was deleted because it was taking up a lot of space and now it's being rebuilt.

Moderators can't mess with the site's settings....only administrators can do that. As far as I know, there is only one administrator on this site, so PMing mods asking them to change things isn't going to help too much (although it was a good idea, I suppose).

As Muskrat said, PMs were taken down due to problems with spam, apparently. I don't agree with this decision, but it's not mine to make, and it's possible that the spam problem was worse than I realize; just because I never received spam PMs doesn't mean lots of other people didn't.

Why would you expect to find this topic in the first two pages of google? It's not particularly significant.

Really, if you want to try to change things, be nice about it. Posting a topic flaming the people in charge of this stuff is not going to get you anywhere.

I agree with you, Elphaba, the search is pretty weird, but I also agree with wyrmmage, you shouldn't go around insulting other people. Yes, I get your point the search is wrecked and Google is *not* your friend anymore but hey! Complaining to us isn't going to get you anywhere, maybe ask an Admin about it? Oh and sorry about bombarding you with this stuff =P

Actually, I carefully read and re-read my posts before I submit, and after getting WYRMMAGE's post, I've even asked other people to look at this..

In NO WAY did I insult anyone.

If English is your first language (and I don't know that's the case for everyone who's reading this) then you will realise that the statement "Kinda think you're either being deliberately obtuse or missing the entire point." IS NOT offensive and insults NO-ONE.

Being 'obtuse' means:

obtuse |É™bËˆt(y)oÅs; Ã¤b-|
adjective
1 annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand : he wondered if the doctor was being deliberately obtuse. See note at stupid .
â€¢ difficult to understand : some of the lyrics are a bit obtuse.
2 (of an angle) more than 90Â° and less than 180Â°.
â€¢ not sharp-pointed or sharp-edged; blunt.

and I gave the option that the poster 'missed the point' to cover the possibility that they weren't being deliberately obtuse.

I mean, let's just happily pretend Political Correctness never existed, and focus on Muskrat's point that I'm supposed to ALREADY KNOW what I'm searching for so that I can put the right words in google.

Doesn't that strike anyone as silly?

If I knew the article that well, I'd probably know the contents and wouldn't need to search!

However if I don't know if / what articles exist (default state) and I'm trying to find help on a problem, then I'm going to search on the smallest amount of keywords possible to try and get a correct and valid hit.

C'mon people. There was NO insult - unless you call Muskrat's version of 'stating the totally pointless and bleeding obvious' and insult... to me.

And on the last note... I can't contact any admins, as PM has been disabled and there doesn't seem to be any other way of getting in touch with them APART FROM POSTING A COMPLAINT ON THIS FORUM, which I was TOLD TO DO by a MODERATOR.

unknown Wrote:yeah I couldn't agree more, writing about it doesn't do anything though

I disagree that writing about it doesn't do anything. Just complaining to yourself doesn't do anything. Writing to an admin can accomplish something, but it's still one voice. This is a community, and it lives and dies by its members. People have been grumbling off and on about search being downright terrible for a while, but never really taking it further than just grumbling. Obviously Carlos isn't going to just spontaneously fix it, but if enough people express the fact that they would like to see searching fixed, then maybe that will give him incentive to fix it. I myself would like to add my voice to say that I would like to see it fixed.

unknown Wrote:oh this site does have a PM thing by the way, just click on the name of whoever you want to send one to.

I fell into that same trap myself: it seemed to work! I wasn't aware it was only enabled for mods at this point...

Elphaba: Maybe you don't feel your posts are insulting, but your later ones have been the digital equivalent of yelling in people's faces. People have taken the time to write polite responses, we only ask that you be polite in return. Even if you have a valid complaint, people aren't going to listen to you if you fly off the handle and start yelling at the people you're asking for support. Calm down, take a deep breath, then try again when you get back.